I also thought about playing a 'delayed economy' style. All these discussions about 'does it pay off?' (see Mana crystal efficiency thread) suggest playing economy as early as possible, since there is the biggest possible distance between the mages (little threat). I wonder if early aggression or early defensive plays with backup economy can be stronger in some cases. Have to try it, I guess.
My primary mage is the Priestess and my first turn tends to be Mana Crystal and Guardian Angel, my second turn tends to be Brace Yourself and Guardian Angel and my third turn tends to be Mana Crystal and Moonglow Amulet. After that, I tend to pop out a Knight of Westlock or Royal Archer each turn after that.
That's interesting. I've never built a book around the mage casting creatures (unless it is only 2-3), I always have the feeling of being super behind in actions versus spawnpoints. No time for equipment, dispels, enchants etc, but versus the Rushmaster i think it is a strong opening.
I tend to use a GA in almost every book (i think it is op) to force actions/mana to get rid of her intercept, while i focus on dispel/dissolve to then finish the game within 2-3 rounds, when the enemy runs out of defensive spells. These kind of books are built to have always more armor (and vets belt or defense) than the enemy (forge or druid). I found that it is very hard to do serious damage to these kind of builds with creatures, since there are so little with piercing. Plus they are decent against aggro builds like the Rushmaster.
